Oct 18 PE Exam

[Travis113]

Hey Guys how do you think y'all did today? 

I'm just here to vent a little. 

Was it just me or did any else feel completely unprepared for this exam?? 

 I was averaging 80's-90's on all section reviews. I took the NCEES official exam and got an 83. I walked out today feeling completely blindsided. 

I feel confident in saying that I completely guessed on about 30% of the exam and was unsure about an additional 20%. A majority of the questions seemed completely out of left field compared too all the studying I did from Zach's PE Review, official ncees, complex, graffeo. 
 
Honestly I feel a bit disgruntled. I try to be self-aware and I feel that I have a solid grasp on the fundamentals, and excelled in university, but this test kicked my ass. I truly felt that I prepared as well as I could have. The practices test and programs felt worthless compared to this exam. Am I just being dramatic here? If anyone who took it this October can give me some perspective it would be much appreciated. 

 

[P.U.18]

The morning session was not too bad, but there Were some weird questions. The aftet noon session sucked gussed alot of questions. I think the electronic one was easier 

 

[DLD PE]

Same here.  Morning not bad.  Afternoon much tougher.  There were questions I thought I knew from the back of my hand from practice exams and the online course and then I see a problem on the same topic and I have no clue how to do it.  Then there were some simple ones, ones we never saw but I was able to solve them. It was a strange experience.  Lots of qualitative problems.

I was wondering if my brain had just turned to mush in the afternoon or it was just harder but seeing the early responses on here i realize that's not the case.

I'm giving myself a 40-50% chance of passing, maybe because I'm guarding against being too disappointed if i don't.

Not sure what i could have done differently to prepare better.  I put in a LOT of time. I'll have to give it a little more thought.

 

[rmsg]

Same here, I think on AM session I am confident on 23 questions and guessed or educated guesses on 17.

In PM session vice versa of the 2 numbers . I also give myself 40-50 percent chance of passing

 

[BirdGrave]

April 2018 examinee here, the sentiment after the test was exactly the same for me and most people on here when we came back to regroup.  I left the exam thinking that I bombed it but then I passed.  

I would hold your powder when it comes to deciding how you did on your own.  You don't know if your guesses were right more often than not or what the cutoff score will be for this particular exam.

 

[DLD PE]

Birdgrave I remember reading yours and others comments, which really helped me not panic nor get surprised during the exam.

 

[ellen3720]

Apparently I woke up in the middle of the night last night, rolled over, asked my wife if I needed to divide by the square root of 3 then rolled back over still asleep.

I think I was still trying to figure out some of the problems in my sleep...

 

[RadioBox]

Hey Guys how do you think y'all did today? 

I'm just here to vent a little. 

Was it just me or did any else feel completely unprepared for this exam?? 

 I was averaging 80's-90's on all section reviews. I took the NCEES official exam and got an 83. I walked out today feeling completely blindsided. 

I feel confident in saying that I completely guessed on about 30% of the exam and was unsure about an additional 20%. A majority of the questions seemed completely out of left field compared too all the studying I did from Zach's PE Review, official ncees, complex, graffeo. 
 
Honestly I feel a bit disgruntled. I try to be self-aware and I feel that I have a solid grasp on the fundamentals, and excelled in university, but this test kicked my ass. I truly felt that I prepared as well as I could have. The practices test and programs felt worthless compared to this exam. Am I just being dramatic here? If anyone who took it this October can give me some perspective it would be much appreciated. 

There’s a cut score for this exam. It’s not over until the fat lady sings.      

It is true the exam was different than the study prep. I am with you on that, and trust me we are not the only ones who feel that way.  However, having said that my resources did help me answer a good portion of the exam.

Zach stones Live webinar/course,

Graffeo(I’m surprised that I found something here that helped),

Wildi( I bought the cheap international version that has a terrible index, but I managed to answer a couple of theory questions since I had it tabbbed)

Justin engineer pro guide. I had his formula sheet. Saved my ass on 3 questions.

Didn’t take Blackburn. Regret it. Lol. There were few easy points that I gave up. I’m sure.

NEC wasn’t too bad.

Eveyone chime in on the exam. 

Am portion: I did well. 

Pm portion: gave me a run for my money. Lol

whats the consensus?

 

[BirdGrave]

Birdgrave I remember reading yours and others comments, which really helped me not panic nor get surprised during the exam.

Out of curiosity which resources did you find yourself using the most?

 

[alorrence]

That was fun!  Couple of questions no clue even with the bajillion resources I had.  Camara actually helped with a lot of the weird physics-y stuff.  Wildi amazing ( Note don’t use the index, just the TOC and figure it out),  Graffeo of course.  Justin’s book gave me a few too.  Blackburn and Grainger - super good resources but need to be read and learned over time.  

I dunno tough but a good challenge and a good day.  All the best to you all.

 

[DLD PE]

Out of curiosity which resources did you find yourself using the most?

I had formulas and phasor diagrams at the front of one of my binders with the eng pro guides cheat sheet right behind those.  Those were my #1 most used.  After that it was Graffeo, class notes and Wildi. All class notes and quizzes (Zach Stones) organized by topic was a biggie, probably #2 before Graffeo.  I kept NEC, Npfa 70E, and NESC in a separate pile and used those all at once to do those types of problems on the second pass. 

I used Blackburn for maybe 1 or 2 problems.  Grainger was a paperweight to keep my authorization and ID from slipping off the table.  Used NCEES practice exams a little but not much. Engineering Economic Analysis was good for 1 problem.

 

[Engineer7]

I studied for about 7 months. Took a review course, took 9 practice tests, basically studied a lot.I was feeling very prepared going in to the test. 

The morning was ok, felt unsure of about 6-8 questions. 

Afternoon was tough. Felt unsure of about 9-10 questions. 

Now I feel a little discouraged. 

 

[DLD PE]

I studied for about 7 months. Took a review course, took 9 practice tests, basically studied a lot.I was feeling very prepared going in to the test. 

The morning was ok, felt unsure of about 6-8 questions. 

Afternoon was tough. Felt unsure of about 9-10 questions. 

Now I feel a little discouraged. 

Even if you completely guessed on that many questions, if you felt confident on the rest you're probably in really good shape, especially with the time you spent studying.

 

[BirdGrave]

I had formulas and phasor diagrams at the front of one of my binders with the eng pro guides cheat sheet right behind those.  Those were my #1 most used.  After that it was Graffeo, class notes and Wildi. All class notes and quizzes (Zach Stones) organized by topic was a biggie, probably #2 before Graffeo.  I kept NEC, Npfa 70E, and NESC in a separate pile and used those all at once to do those types of problems on the second pass. 

I used Blackburn for maybe 1 or 2 problems.  Grainger was a paperweight to keep my authorization and ID from slipping off the table.  Used NCEES practice exams a little but not much. Engineering Economic Analysis was good for 1 problem.

Did you make use of the NCEES FE Handbook at all?  I was surprised by how often I found myself referencing that.

 

[DLD PE]

I brought it but didn't look at it much.

 

[Nashi]

I don't know how I'm going to wait so long for the results. Its been one day and I need to know.

 

[Invisible]

By any chance, can the cut off for passing be 50 or less than 50? What do you guys think? I'm new to the forum

 

[Engineer7]

There is something I’m worried about, but it’s probably not a big deal. 

In the morning when I opened the exam book, a small tear was made on my answer sheet. I called the proctor and asked if it’s ok because it said no fold or tears on that sheet. She went and checked with someone and came back with a new answer sheet. It was in the beginning of the exam so I had filled out just two answers. I had to transfer the info pre printed on my original sheet like my name and stuff, plus those two answers onto my new sheet. After I transferred the info on my new sheet, she took the old one with a small tear, and I guess has to send it back to them. My new sheet was submitted with the test book. I just hope there is no mixup!

 

[DLD PE]

Someone asked if my son had picked out a scary Halloween costume. I said, "Yeah, he's going as the PE exam!"

 

[AruT]

For me, I ran out of time in the first half and overall it was rough for me! second hanf was better, but from yesterday I am having this nightmare-ish reminder from the back of my brain about how much I tanked the exam every few hours! I did a lot of studying this time (this is my second attempt) and if I fail, I have no idea how and where I can improve my prep! 


travishans08, my feeling are almost like yours! Very disgruntled! You are not alone!